Explosion residue might help track terrorists: researchers

Wed 26 May 2010, 2:15 PM AEST

Australian scientists say new research on tracking the source materials used in explosives could help fight terrorism.

The researchers from Flinders University in Adelaide say by analysing the explosive residue they can identify impurities in the so-called starter material, which can lead them to the source of an explosive.

Associate Professor in Forensic Chemistry, Stewart Walker, says it is similar to medical research which identified pseudoephedrine in the production of amphetamines.

"The consequence of this is that we're able to use this knowledge to identify what the terrorists are using to make explosives and therefore to try and intervene in the supply of those materials," he said.

"In the same way that you compare fingerprints of humans with fingerprints of a crime scene you can compare different batches of explosives and identify whether some of them could have come from the same batch or the same manufacturer or whether you're actually looking at more than one source."